


Bruised knuckles and shallow lies.

by Broken_arrow32



Category: Batman - Fandom, DC - Fandom, DC Comics, Young Justice, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Batman - Freeform, Dick Grayson - Freeform, Dick Grayson Angst, Hurt, Self Harm, Young Justice - Freeform, batfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:42:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26333566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_arrow32/pseuds/Broken_arrow32
Summary: Dick Grayson, also known as the vigilante Robin, walks into the cave that is home to the justice leagues covert op’s team, but is covered in bruises, and Wally West, Kid flash, notices something isn’t quite right with the excuse for the injuries, and finds his best friend ruthlessly hurting himself.
Kudos: 34





	Bruised knuckles and shallow lies.

It was around four thirty in the afternoon, and almost the whole team was sitting in the cave, having chosen to get together and hang out after school. The boredom induced silence was softly broken when the Zeta tube computer announced the arrival of the youngest member of the Justice league’s covert op’s team. 

“Recognized, Robin. B-0-1” the automated voice called out.

Zatanna, the newest member of the team, became slightly excited as she heard the small footsteps of the Boy wonder pattered closer, but found more interest in the old spell book she was reading that had belonged to her father. The rest of the team didn’t even move a muscle as the little bird entered the room. Aside from Wally. He instantly jumped up to greet his best friend, but froze upon seeing him.

“Woah. Rob, what happened to you?” Wally asked, concerned. That caught the attention of the rest of the team, causing them to look up at the questioned boy wonder. They all noticed his bruised cheek and nose, along with his split lip and the cut on his jaw. Robin's head snapped up from his phone as his redheaded friend addressed him. Robin looked back down and finished typing something, presumably a text message, and stuffed his phone in the back pocket of his jeans.

”nothing. Just the job. ‘M fine, don’t worry about it.” Robin said stiffly. Wally wasn’t buying it.

”You never let your face get beat up that bad on patrol.” Wally protested.

”I was tired ‘n sloppy last night. And I paid the price. No big” Robin retorted. Wally furrowed his brow. It wasn’t like Robin to get “tired n’ sloppy” on patrol. Not like him at all. Something was wrong, and Robin wasn’t telling the truth. The wounds looked way too fresh to have happened the previous night. The thing wally couldn’t figure out was why Robin was lying.

”Rob-”

”i’m not in the mood to argue, Wally, so i’m only gonna say this once. Let. it. Go.” Robin said temperedly, emphasizing he wanted the topic to be dropped. Robin huffed an irritated sigh and stalked off to his room as the entire team gave him looks of “just tell the truth, you can trust us”. He hated when people gave him those looks. He didn’t like when people fussed over him. He only let Bruce and Alfred do so out of respect for all they had done, taking him in after losing his parents and all. Bruce even learnt Romanian to better communicate with Robin when he’d first moved into the manor.

Robin slipped into his room in the mountain and locked himself inside, sliding to the floor with his back against the door. He took off his dark sunglasses and pulled out his phone, looking at his reflection in the screen. He was a mess. His bottom lip was red and bloody, his entire cheek bone was black and blue, he had a decent sized cut along his jawline, the outer and upper corner of his right eye was bruised, and he was pretty sure his nose was broken. Why couldn’t he be a regular white kid instead of Romanian? Maybe then people would actually leave him alone at school. He heaved a heavy sigh and squeezed his eyes shut. What did it matter? People would still see him as worthless no matter what. He knew his skin tone and nationality came with that burden. The thing he never understood was why. What had his people done to deserve so much hate? What had he done to deserve it? He worked his ass off every night protecting the citizens and other children of Gotham city and he was rewarded with nothing but spiteful comments and verbal abuse. Robin slowly stood up. He looked again at his reflection in his phone screen. He glared and threw the phone onto his bed across the room. He leant against the door, the image of his reflection refusing to leave his mind. He glared harder and, out of anger, impulsively turned around and punched the wall. Hard. his already bruised knuckles bruised even more and began to split, bleeding slightly, Robin didn’t care. He retracted his fist and wound up to hit the wall again. And again. It became a repetitive process until his fist became raw and numb and his cheeks were wet with rage filled tears. Even then, he didn’t stop. 

Wally walked past the young bird's room and heard the loud thump of Robin's fist connecting to the wall. Wally sighed and went to keep walking, knowing Robin wouldn’t talk to him about it, until he heard the sound again. And again. And then he realized that Robin probably wasn’t going to stop punching the wall on his own. Wally zipped to Robin’s front door and quickly unlocked it, slipping inside. Somehow, he managed to slip in unnoticed by the bird. Wally’s eyes widened when he saw the bloody and decently sized dent his friend had made in the wall from punching it. Then he got a glimpse of his actual fist as Robin retracted to hit the wall again. Just as Robin was about to hit the wall, Wally grabbed his arm before his fist made contact.

”dude, stop. You're gonna break your hand.” Wally said calmly. He knew yelling at Robin wouldn’t help. It’d only make the little bird feel threatened. And when Robin felt threatened, he turned hostile. Extremely hostile. And That was the last thing Wally needed right now. Robin reefed his arm out of the redheads grip and scoffed.

”What do you care.” Robin muttered, slowly wiping his tears. Wally carefully grabbed Robin’s chin and forced the ebony to face him.

”Dick, you’re my best friend. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me. Tell me what's wrong. Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting yourself like this?” Wally asked, continuing to stay calm. Robin stepped back.

”stop. Don’t do that to me..” Dick said quietly, a hurt expression forming on his face as his eyes turned glossy, his gaze now focused on the ground.

”do what?” Wally questioned. Robin snapped.

”MAKE ME THINK YOU CARE! I KNOW YOU DON’T JUST.. stop….please just stop..” Dick stepped back even further from his redheaded friend as more hot tears streamed down his young face.

”don’t make it hurt even more than it already will when you leave me like everybody else…” the ebony whimpered. Wally paled as his eyes went wide. Dick must’ve taken a beating from the football team at his school before he could go home. Dick always felt like this after an interaction with them. Wally already hated Dick’s school’s football team for many reasons, but what really pissed him off about that team now was that they made his best friend think that Wally was gonna leave him. Dick knew his skin and nationality made him worthless in the eyes of many, Wally was well aware of that. But what Dick didn’t know was that he was worth the world in Wally’s eyes. Wally, yet again, grabbed Dick by the chin and made the ebony look up at him. <p.”Dick, look at me. You are my best friend. And I wouldn't change that for the world. And i know you don’t believe it but-” The redhead pulled the ebony into a tight embrace,

”i am never. Ever. going to leave you. At all. No matter where you are, I'm always right beside you. I am never more than a text message or a phone call away. I know you feel worthless, but you are so so so much more than your skin colour and nationality. It’s who you are that count’s, not what you look like. You are the most amazing, funny, sarcastic, caring and kind person i have ever met. You are worth so so so much more than you think. Now come on. Let's get you patched up, and then you can tell me what happened, ok?” Wally said. Dick sniffled before nodding his head in Wally's chest.

”ok…”

”and, Dick?”

”yes?”

”for the record, i love the natural tan colour of your skin.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow my IG, Shooting.broken.arrows to keep up with me and know when a new story by me is released! Hope you enjoyed the story!


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